Polish conservatives to pick PM candidate

WARSAW - Poland's triumphant conservative party may pick its top economic expert to head the next government, accelerating coalition building talks with their pro-business allies.

Party officials and sources say Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, an advocate of cautious economic reform, was likely to be named as the Law and Justice party's candidate for prime minister.

Law and Justice won Sunday's general election and is set to form a government with the junior Civic Platform party, hoping to rejuvenate the economy and cut 18 per cent unemployment by tackling reforms stalled under the defeated ruling leftists.

"Marcinkiewicz is a very serious candidate for prime minister. (Conservative leader) Jaroslaw Kaczynski trusts him enormously," Marek Surmacz, head of Marcinkiewicz's office, told Reuters.

A senior conservative source confirmed that Kaczynski was likely to pick Marcinkiewicz to run the government.

Some say Marcinkiewicz, a surprise choice, appeared to be a replacement for Kaczynski, who refused the position because his twin brother was running in next month's presidential polls.

Sociologists say Poles may be wary of making the combative Kaczynski twins head of state and head of government.

Civic Platform leader and presidential candidate Donald Tusk put pressure on the Law and Justice party to name Jaroslaw Kaczynski as their candidate for prime minister instead of a "figurehead".

"We will talk. The best candidate is Jaroslaw Kaczynski," Civic Platform deputy chief Grzegorz Schetyna told private radio Zet.

Civic Platform economic policy spokesman Zbigniew Chlebowski called Marcinkiewicz "very competent".

"The most important thing is that he knows what he is talking about -- that is a gift in today's politics," he told Reuters.

Negotiations to build the new government are taking place in the shadows of the presidential campaign, where the candidates from the two parties who will run the government are rivals.

Economic and political analysts have suggested that Marcinkewicz may be a holding candidate to push along cabinet building talks while the presidential race pans out.

"I feel sure he is just a holding candidate until the presidency is decided." said Robert Beange, economist with Lehman Brothers in London.

Tusk is frontrunner over Kaczynski ahead of the presidential election on October 9. If none of the contenders wins more than 50 per cent of the vote, the contest will go into a head-to-head run-off two weeks later.

- REUTERS